


Agape

by Maddoxis



Category: Original Work
Genre: Drama, Dystopia, Romance, Science Fiction, Short, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2021-02-07 04:22:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21451957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maddoxis/pseuds/Maddoxis
Summary: “You know. They don't really make sense but they just kind of work. Pressing your thumb on the roof of your mouth for headaches, or...eating rattlesnakes for great skin.” she smiled.“And this really works for you, does it?”“Sometimes. I think you just have to believe it does...”
Kudos: 2





	Agape

“Press your thumb to the top of your mouth, see?” she said, opening her mouth wide, a smile tugging distractingly at her jaw. She pressed the pad of her thumb against the roof of her mouth, “...and it goes away.” words muffled by the thumb in her mouth. 

“That's a joke right? I mean you can't really be tellin’ me that stickin’ your thumb in your mouth gets rid of the headaches.” he scoffed. James chuckled at her, at how was still staring at him with her thumb between her lips.

She shrugged, removing it, “It might be a joke. But, maybe it's just one of those things, you know?”

“What do you mean?” 

“You know. They don't really make sense but they just kind of work. Pressing your thumb on the roof of your mouth for headaches, or...eating rattlesnakes for great skin.” she smiled.

“And this really works for you, does it?”

“Sometimes. I think you just have to believe it does...” 

It doesn't work anymore. There was a time when It did but...It hasn't worked for years.

Shortly after the radiation consumed her body and she was no more than a fragile husk of burnt flesh and rotting bones, the pulsating headaches came back. And they were back with a torturous vengeance that wouldn't let him sleep, wouldn't let him eat. And worst of all...it wouldn't let him forget about her. His mind had lost so much to the ravages of Australia’s radiation and yet, it wouldn't let her go. Even if she was just a haunting echo in the back of his mind, just a voice he could no longer put a face to, traces of her lingered. And they were the only things he couldn't forget.. 

Until he remembered her trick. 

And now he pressed against the roof of his mouth. A brief moment of painfully clear lucidity, and he felt the cold, bitter steel tickle his gums, he noticed the faint scent of rust and oil. 

‘Would the piece of junk even go off?’ he wondered. 

His tongue cautiously, anxiously licked at the cold metal in his mouth, coaxing bitter acid from the back of his throat at the taste of the steel’s sharp flavor. 

He pressed it harder against the roof of his mouth. His fingers itching to curl those last few centimeters around the trigger. 

‘This'll make it stop. This is a trick that never fails.’ he giggled madly. 

But still one that requires faith. Did he really believe this would end the suffering? No one really knows how this trick ends or what it leads to. Maybe it wouldn't lead to her, maybe he would find only more pain. 

His teeth clinked against the weapon as they chattered. Wavering in his determination as tears slipped from his clenched eyes. 

His fingers tensed. The trigger clicked. The springs sprung into action. The hammer was released and- gone. 

No more headache. 

He opened his eyes. Swallowing hard as he pulled the gun away from his mouth, a silk thin line of saliva falling between his dithering lips and his weapon. His lungs quivered. Exhaling a shaking breath, he realized-

The gun jammed...or maybe it was something else. Didn't matter, no bullet was shot and he was still alive. At least, it sure seemed like it. Either way- the pain was no longer there...it was really gone...

And he wept. Gripping his head with a painful amount of force, he let the gun clatter to the floor. Taking fistfuls of his hair he crumpled to his knees.

She was really gone...


End file.
